One Long Day
by WickedBluerose
Summary: A short glimpse of the ending of a day that starts after being up all night sharing secrets and ends here in the story the night before the train station.


**Summary: A short glimpse of the ending of a day that starts after being up all night sharing secrets and ends here in the story the night before the train station.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Wicked nor any of the characters from Oz.... I'm merely borrowing them for a moment to interject what may have happened in a moment not scripted. If I owned Wicked it would run forever.... even in Chicago.**

_**One Long Day...**_

The day spun through Elphaba's mind at whirlwind speeds as she tried to grasp it all.... Galinda's attempt to make her popular.... the lion cub.... Fiyero's touch.... and the invitation from the Wizard of Oz himself. Her mind was so tied up in knots Elphaba barely noticed her still slightly damp hair as she wandered into her dorm room.

Galinda turned from her closet at the sound of the door. "Elphie!" The green girl didn't seem to hear the shrieked welcome from her pinkly clad roommate. "Elphie?", puzzlement crept into the blonde's voice as she slowly walked over to Elphaba and waved her hand in front of the dazed girl's face to try to get her attention. "Are you OK? Look at you! Were you just walking around out in the rain like this? For Oz sakes don't you own an umbrella?"

"He wants to see me…." Elphaba whispered only half turning towards Galinda with eyes still very distant.

"He? Who are you talking about? Elphaba?" Galinda starred at the green girl and was considering slapping her roommate if she didn't start making sense. Luckily for both girls, Elphaba's eyes snapped into focus as she repeated her words more forcefully.

"He wants to see me! The Wizard of Oz ….. " Galinda had taken a cautious step backward. No doubt fearing Elphaba was delusional from something caught while standing out in the rain and fearing it might be highly contaigible. Elphaba whipped the green invitation with the golden letters from her bag and held it out for Galinda to read.

"Oh Elphie!", Galinda exclaimed with tears coming to her eyes, "What on earth will you wear! Maybe we will have time to get you a new gown before you have to – "

"Galinda! It doesn't matter what I wear … I'll simply put my hair back in a braid and wear my black frock." Elphaba stood up from the bed to start straightening the room up in preparation for going to the train station the next day.

"Elphaba Thropp, you will do no such thing. At least wear the rose in your hair you looked so beautiful, and it will add some color to your outfit." Glinda insisted.

"The last thing I need is more *color*." The green witch lashed back more harshly than she had intended. Elphaba took a breath to calm her voice. "I'm not beautiful, and I never will be." The words were so soft Galinda was not sure if she was meant to hear them or not. After several moments of stillness where no one moved or spoke, Galinda slowly stepped around in front of her friend and gently lifted Elphaba's trembling chin up with perfectly painted nails. She was obviously fighting back tears, and pulled away from Galinda's hand.

"Elphie…. Why did you run away this morning? Why can't you accept that you could be beautiful?" Beauty to Galinda was always a given. Something you practiced at and was always a part of life. She couldn't understand why anyone would be unhappy to be beautiful.

The day had simply been too much for Elphaba to retain her stoic nature. She slumped down on her bed looking all the world like a rag doll trying not to fall over. In her spent condition a crack appeared just wide enough for the mask to fall away to reveal scorching truth. "All I know of life is harsh and ugly. It's terrifying to even consider the possibility that I could be anything other than the flawed green monster that those in my life have branded me as since before I could understand how truly different I was." The tears flowed down her face with no effort to stop them or wipe them away. "If I foolishly let myself think even for the briefest of moments that I could be something I'm not then it hurts all the more when I come crashing back to reality." Her eyes pressed shut, but the tears kept falling.

Galinda bite her lip and sat down on the bed beside Elphaba not sure what to do to comfort her friend as Galinda was usually the one being comforted not the other way around, and she was almost as lost in her new role as Elphaba was at seeing herself as anything other than the detested green monster. "Maybe you need a new reality." It wasn't much, but it was the best thing that came to Galinda's mind to say.

Caught off guard at her own disclosure and at her only friend's attempt to make things better, however feebly expressed, Elphaba mentally collected herself and sat up straighter with all her shields back in place. "Maybe." A sad smile was the last trace lingering in her expression before the normal briskness of purpose took hold and the green witch again started working towards packing her suitcase.

Galinda brightened at what she thought was her wondrous ability to set everything right. "Well I'll just grab you a few things to take along in case you change your mind…" she bounced up and towards her overflowing dressers.

Elphaba paused a moment to watch her … and for a moment envied that carefree ignorance that Galinda positively glowed with.

"Every so often we long to steal  
To the land of what-might-have-been  
But that doesn't soften the ache we feel  
When reality sets back in… "

June 23rd, 2009 Wicked Bluerose


End file.
